Source: ESO Science Release eso1124
COSMOS field imaged by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).
Image credits: CFHT/IAP/Terapix/CNRS/ESO.
A new study combining data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory has turned up a surprise. Most of the huge black holes in the centres of galaxies in the past 11 billion years were not turned on by mergers between galaxies, as had been previously thought. (read more)
Source: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope
Today, Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. To commemorate the event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken these "anniversary pictures" of the blue-green giant planet.
Birthday pictures of Neptune by Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).
Neptune is the most distant major planet in our solar system. German astronomer Johann Galle discovered the planet on September 23, 1846. At the time, the discovery doubled the size of the known solar system. The planet is 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the Sun, 30 times farther than Earth. Under the Sun's weak pull at that distance, Neptune plods along in its huge orbit, slowly completing one revolution approximately every 165 years. (read more)
